The telecommunications industry is a highly regulated industry world wide. The rates charged for telephone call may very substantially because of the many rate setting regulatory entities involved. For example, in the United States a long distance call refers to telephone calls made outside a certain area, typically characterized by an area code outside of a local call area. Such long-distance calls carry long-distance charges (tolls) which may vary by nation and between phone companies. Calls between different countries (international calls) usually carry much higher charges.
In the United States, the regulatory scheme is rather complicated. Each State has a public utilities commission (PUC) that regulates public utilities, and that can, in the case of telephone services, set rates for calls taking place within the State. In addition, there is the concept of Local Access and Transport Area (LATA). A LATA is a “geographical area of the United States under the terms of “the Modification of Final Judgment (MFJ) entered by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Civil Action number 82-0192 or any other geographic area designated as a LATA in the National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc. Tariff FCC No. 4.” Thus there are two types of “long distance” calls. One is an inter-State call, the other is an intra-State inter LATA. LATA boundaries are usually drawn around markets, not necessarily along existing State or area code borders. Some LATAs cross over State boundaries, and area codes and LATAs do not necessarily share boundaries; many LATAs exist in multiple area codes, and many area codes exist in multiple LATAs.
Intra-State inter-LATA long distance refers to a calling area outside of the customer's local LATA but within the customer's State. The calling area may not served by the same carrier used for regular long distance, or may be provided at different rates. Typically, an intra-State inter-LATA long distance can be billed at a higher per-minute rate than inter-State long-distance calls, despite being a shorter distance.
Many companies operate customer service centers where customers can call for information, product support or to initiate a transaction. Typically, these customer service centers operate as a call center or centralized office that answers incoming telephone calls from customers. Call centers operated by a company may be at a single location, or be linked with other centers. Call centers may also be linked to corporate computer networks. The call center may be accessed through a toll-free telephone number so that the calling party is not charged for the call by the carrier. Instead the company operating the call center pays the charges. When a toll free number is dialed the carrier determines where the actual physical destination by using the intelligent network capabilities embedded into the network. The toll-free number is translated into a regular geographic number and routed by the telephone exchange in the normal way. In a call center the call is then typically answered by a telephone system known as an automatic call distributor (ACD) or private branch exchange (PBX). Subsequent routing of the calls are determined by the call center. For example, the call may routed depending upon the location of the caller. Many companies take advantage of the difference in inter-State rates versus intra-State inter-LATA rates by routing call out of State where the rates may be less.
Companies having call centers have a need to take advantage of existing network infrastructure to ensure that toll calls are routed though the lowest cost locations in their system. There is also a need to integrate voice and data communication networks into the operations of call centers to derive the maximum economic benefit.